Up and Down Wall Street

Yuan Upmanship

Is China's currency switch the real deal or just a sly maneuver? Either way, no cure-all for what ails us.

What brought to mind that timeworn, ironic chestnut, used down through the eons to convey a self-evident absurdity, was how China chose to bend to Washington's importunities and make its currency more expensive. It chose to do so by severing the yuan's ties to the dollar and pegging it, instead, against a basket of currencies. That bold action produced a 2.1% increase in the value of the yuan. Which, in terms of...